Three new members have been appointed to the Board of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (North East LEP) bringing expertise from automotive, finance and health and life sciences.
Alan Johnson, Vice President and Managing Director of Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK), Sunderland Plant, Sam Whitehouse, Executive Chairman and former CEO of High Force Research Ltd andEmily Cox MBE,Group Ambassador for the North and Group Head of Colleague Relations & Policy at Lloyds Banking Group join the Board, replacing outgoing members, Gillian Hall, Kate Medcalf and Erika Leadbeater.
Lucy Winskell OBE, Chair of the North East LEP, said: “Our Board members support the North East LEP’s work of bringing more and better jobs into the North East economy and they also have the important role of representing the voice of businesses, ensuring that North East business’s views are heard on a regional and national scale.
“Emily, Alan and Sam bring with them exceptional skills and knowledge which will be invaluable to the North East LEP as we build a brighter, more sustainable future for our region.”
Alan Johnson has been with Nissan since 1991, when he joined as a graduate engineer. He has since worked with Nissan in Spain, Russia and France, and is now based in Sunderland, overseeing the operation of one of Europe’s most productive car plants.
“The North East has a global reach when it comes to advanced manufacturing and this gives us a solid base on which to build an even stronger regional economy,” commented Alan. “I’m looking forward to getting started in my new role as a member of the North East LEP board and helping to make our region the best place to live, work and invest,” he added.
Sam Whitehouse brings with him extensive experience in health and life sciences and is currently Executive Chairman at High Force Research, a chemical R&D specialist which manufactures advanced pharmaceutical ingredients.
“Health and life sciences is a sector which presents huge opportunities for the North East and I’m excited to be able to help maximise these. I’ll be acting as an ambassador for our region and working with the North East LEP team and partners to achieve our goals of doubling the number of jobs and the number of businesses operating in this fast-growing area by 2030,” said Sam.
Currently Group Head of Colleague Relations and Policy as well as Group Ambassador for the North at Lloyds Banking Group, and the Chair of Gentoo in Sunderland, Emily Cox MBE, said: “The business community here in the North East is innovative, collaborative and ambitious and I’m looking forward to working with the executive team and my fellow board members to help create more opportunities to grow the regional economy in an inclusive way, ultimately creating more and better jobs for our residents.”
The three new Board members join senior leaders from the private, public, education and voluntary and community sectors, chaired by Lucy Winskell, OBE.
The Board supports the North East LEP’s revised role, which is to represent the business voice; collaborating and engaging with, listening to and feeding business views into national and regional policy and investment decision-making.
The North East LEP also leads strategic economic planning by taking the regional lead to develop and coordinate research and economic evidence around the North East economy to inform regional strategy and decision-making.
“Driving the growth of the North East economy, and influencing regional and national decision-making, is something we achieve by working in partnership. Ensuring our Board has people like Emily, Alan and Sam present, who have extensive knowledge of doing business here, helps make the voice of businesses central to everything we do,” added Lucy Winskell OBE.
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